Oxford Museum of Natural History to reopen following roof restoration

The museum's 360 million-year-old Trilobite was on display at an Oxford opticians during the renovation

Oxford's Museum of Natural History will reopen on 15 February following a £2m roof restoration.

More than 8,500 glass tiles were removed, cleaned and resealed to repair the leaking Victorian roof.

Staff carried out conservation work on whale skeletons, which were treated for the first time in 100 years.

The museum will celebrate completing 14 months of restoration work with a one off "dawn till dusk" event, lasting from 07:00 GMT to 17:00.

Dodo and a dinosaur

Throughout the day there will be live bands and bug handling for visitors.

While the museum was closed 12 of its specimens, including a dodo and a dinosaur, were installed at a range of Oxford city centre venues, forming an interactive treasure trail.

The museum's director, Professor Paul Smith Smith said: 'This has been a long, dark year with the museum closed to visitors.

"It will be very nice to see the doors opened again on Saturday 15 February, and to have the sound of visitors filling the space once more - without them having to move around buckets to collect rainwater."

Hundreds of specimens have been unwrapped, checked and replaced in the displays ready for the reopening.